Stockholm Water Prize Laureate in new podcast

NewsJun 11, 2018

2018 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, Bruce Rittmann, discusses the early days of the green movement, a fascination with freshwater, a summer job at the local wastewater plant and the many other steps taken towards becoming a pioneer in environmental biotechnology in the latest podcast by WEF.

It started with a summer job at the local wastewater plant – and a sense that something drastic had to be done to clean up the environment. In a new episode of the podcast Words on Water, one of 2018’s Stockholm Water Prize Laureates, Professor Bruce Rittmann, reveals how he took his first steps towards becoming a pioneer in environmental biotechnology. Words on Water is hosted by Water Environment Federation (WEF), a Founder of Stockholm Water Prize.

In a chat with WEF’s Communications director, Travis Loop, Professor Rittmann describes how he came across the early green movement in the USA around the time of the first Earth Day in 1970. From the beginning, Bruce Rittmann was fascinated by freshwater and in the podcast, he also talks about how he, as a PhD student in the 1970’s, got to work with the legendary Professor Perry McCarty at Stanford. The two of them collaborate to this day, for example on the text book Environmental Biotechnology.

For anyone interested in understanding both the origins of the microbiology revolution in wastewater treatment and what the future will hold, this episode is well worth tuning in to.

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